Pokémon GO developer Niantic teams up with the Knight Foundation to promote local city exploration

Pokémon GO developer Niantic has teamed up with the Knight Foundation to promote local city exploration and civic engagement in communities. Both entities are planning to pitch in time, money and lots of Pokémon to encourage citizens to go outside and explore their towns through city-organized events. “We’re techno-optimists at the Knight Foundation,” says Knight Foundation vice president Sam Gill. “We were excited to see someone who had seemingly cracked the code of how to use this device we’re all carrying around to go out and interact with each other.”

The partnership’s very first event will officially kick off on May 7 in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of Knight’s upcoming Open Streets events. “They’re really interesting features of the community,” says John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, “that hopefully educate people as they discover their civic pride.” To learn more about this initiative, click here.